


Mages Like You, Mages Like me

by greyvvardenfell



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Gen, M/M, Red Hawke (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26439652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyvvardenfell/pseuds/greyvvardenfell
Summary: Anders and Adam Hawke have a little spat after Carver joins the Wardens.
Relationships: Fenris/Male Hawke
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Mages Like You, Mages Like me

For once, Adam couldn’t bring himself to be angry. He couldn’t bring himself to feel much of anything at all, even with the power of lyrium thrumming through his veins. Over the gentle song it hummed, he could hear Anders and Varric discussing their next move, but Carver’s absence spoke louder than their voices, penetrating a part of his mind he’d locked away since Bethany died. Stroud seemed like a capable man, but joining the Grey Wardens was as good as a death sentence even without a Blight raging. Their entrapment in the Deep Roads had all but proven that.

He tried to swallow around the lump in his throat and found it wouldn’t budge. _Maybe we’ll all die here, alone in these rotten caves._ A harsh, mirthless laugh forced its way out through his nose. _Sorry, mother._

“Hawke? You alright?” Varric’s presence materialized out of the dimness at his elbow.

“Are any of us ‘alright?’” Adam responded dryly, keeping his gaze focused on the end of the tunnel ahead.

“Bah, you know what I mean.”

“I’m fine.”

Varric clearly didn’t believe him. The air weighed heavily on their shoulders, growing denser with each passing second. “Right, well. Anders was saying—”

“I don’t want to hear what Anders was saying.” Adam lifted his lip in a sneer, his teeth flashing in the light of the lyrium veins. He shot a venomous glare over his shoulder at the other mage, who startled at the sound of his name and shrank into his feathered pauldrons. “You know very well he’s only here for his maps, not because I trust him.”

“That isn’t fair, Hawke,” Varric said tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Don’t take your anger out on Blondie just because—”

“And why shouldn’t I? If it wasn’t for him, we’d be—”

“If it wasn’t for me, your brother would be dead.” Anders’s voice was quiet but strong, unsupported by Justice’s otherworldly timbres and still more than enough to silence Adam Hawke. “I didn’t have to help him, you know. Maybe I shouldn’t have. He won’t thank me for it. Clearly you don’t.” He looked away. “I know you don’t like me, Hawke. Not many people do, and I understand why.”

“It’s mages like you that give mages like me a bad name,” Adam spat, lightning sparking between his fingers.

Anders met his eyes evenly, without flinching. “It’s mages like you that give mages like me a reason to fight.”

“Enough of this, both of you.” Varric moved between them, palms raised. “Now is not the time for a political debate. You can do that when we’re safely back in Kirkwall, not about to die. Right?” He met Adam’s fiery gray eyes, staring him down.

Slowly, Adam lowered his hands and let his magic flicker out. He took a deep breath in through his nose and held it, feeling the tongues of anger retreat along his shoulders. He missed them as soon as they were gone, replaced by doubt and loss and sucking fear. “Right.”

Varric transferred his gaze to Anders, who nodded almost immediately. “Right.” He hesitated. “I am sorry, Hawke, about Carver,” he added over Varric’s head. “I know it must be hard for you, to lose another sibling. If it’s any consolation, I think he’ll survive the Joining.”

Adam grunted.

“Hawke, what do we say when someone does something nice for us?” Varric folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not a child, Varric.”

“Then stop acting like one.”

He clenched his fists, driving his fingernails into his palms. “Thank you, Anders.” The words felt like gravel scraped along his tongue as they spilled out.

“That’s better,” said Varric, patting him on the arm. Adam wrenched himself away from the dwarf’s touch and stalked off down the tunnel, his boots sending echoes bouncing down the rock walls.

Anders rolled his eyes. “We shouldn’t let Fenris hear him thank me for anything. I don’t think he’d let him live it down.”

“The elf isn’t nearly as cold as that. Besides, the way he looks at Hawke, I think he could get away with pretty much anything and still be in his good books.”

“You can’t be serious. If those two get together, Kirkwall will never see sunshine again through the storms of pessimism that follow them around,” Anders said, starting down the tunnel after Adam’s retreating back.

Varric laughed. “They might surprise you, Blondie. Stranger things have happened.”

“That’s true, I suppose. Like Adam Hawke listening to you, not frying me to a crisp for saying something about him being unsupportive of mages, and him thanking me, all in the same conversation!”

“Exactly like that.”


End file.
